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In 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his final important works. Recognized for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to addressing global challenges from peace activism to vegetarianism. Through a short video message, he issued a call for a worldwide initiative to celebrate the natural world.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he declared, urging cultural workers to stand against the ongoing loss of species. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the richness and complexity in nature … and by doing so art will enter realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Environmental Reflection

And so the environmental art day was born, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the unfolding climate catastrophe. One of the curators, who cared for Metzger in his last days, notes his feeling of immediacy. “He had a great sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “My advice was – we must act now. No need to pause for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. Let’s just do it.”

Ten Years On

A decade on, the initiative hasn’t quite incited the mass movement across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but supporters think its influence can still be observed in campaigns like cultural advocacy groups and Extinction Rebellion, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their practices. This is the reason she is restaging it to commemorate its decade milestone. Part of the featured creators taking part currently are A Man Called Adam and Anya Gallaccio. All participants have produced imagery, shared messages, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Sowing Change

When speaking to Anya Gallaccio, she is working outdoors in a rural area, helping plant apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. According to her, the planning and planting sessions have already incorporated learning about maths (measuring out the planting intervals), genetics (exploring the hereditary traits), and geography (tracing the backgrounds of how different apples arrived in Britain).

Many of the apples were selected because they’ve got humorous titles such as the Duck’s Bill. We have one apple that releases scarcolored sap

“A lot of the apples were selected because they’ve got funny names such as the Bloody Butcher,” the artist notes. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have histories attached. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and landed on the physicist’s head.”

The artist aimed the children to be more thoughtfully connected of the natural world and the power we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to read the label and see their names and their origin. Ideally it reads Kent!”

Creative Initiatives Across the Country

At the capital, a participant’s project on disappearance will include attendees searching a major gallery on a mission to find the seven major glaciers that have been vanished in recent years. All formations will be depicted on the exhibition spaces using invisible ink. Whenever one is found, a bell will ring and a performance will be performed to commemorate that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be presenting a free exhibition about our disconnection from the land, as well as holding a shared meal, cooked from sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, a participant is broadcasting her environmental performance, in which community vocalists embark on a mission to use music to heal flora in a local park.

Youth Perspectives

Like Gallaccio, a featured creator will be engaging schoolchildren – on the day itself she is planning to cover an art space in kids’ letters and drawings that capture their dreams and worries for the years ahead. “Youthful expressions are powerful because they’re not as trammelled as mature perspectives,” she says in her public appeal. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a awareness of obligation from each person. Youth is pure. They have fears about the future. But it isn’t meant to be about anxiety – it should be about optimism and our responsibility that they have a tomorrow.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also connects with children. With a background in performance, his avian project involves sketching winged creatures and then dressing up as them – and for the initiative he is aiming to address an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his long-term work over the last two decades. That ongoing series commenced following he faced three incidents of prejudice on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to sow a flower at the location of every incident and photograph it – the project has since spiralled to incorporate experiences experienced by other people across the world. “I place the plants there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “It seems wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a short-lived memorial.”

He picked the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its etymology comes from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The project on the event day is to sow flowers at additional sites and also replant flowers in places he has previously memorialised, all the while conversing with those on the walking tour about the occurrences and his recollections. “I’ve recorded quite a few after my previous work,” he says with regret.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and